Receiving sound that is not audible to others currently requires the use of speakers in headphones or ear buds. Most commonly, headphone and ear buds are connected to a sound source, such as a telephone, radio, CD player, DVD player, PC, or palm pilot, via a cable. Some are connected to the sound source via wireless link.
Telephone use requires a speaker and a microphone. Typically, the speaker and microphone are combined together in a handset that can be conveniently held in one hand of the user. New phones, including wireless phones and cell phones, include all of the phone circuits within a handset. The next generation of cell phone protocol, known as USTM, incorporates various aspects of the internet. When a connection is established between a phone handset using the USTM protocol, and a base station (which base station could be cellular transmitting station), a user of the phone can write, send, and receive email, as well as engage in other internet-related activities, in addition to conducting conventional phone calls.
Some styles of phones, including older phones, include only a microphone and speaker and limited or no circuitry in the handset, which handset is then connected to a phone base, which base includes the main telephone circuitry.
Commonly, the speaker of the telephone is held to the user's ear, while the microphone is located in a part of the telephone handset that is close to the user's mouth. Portable phones are often used with extensions that contain an “ear bud” and a microphone or headphone(s) and a microphone, thereby allowing use of the telephone without the necessity of holding the entire phone up to the head. However, such a portable phone requires a cable that runs from the telephone to the user's head.
The disadvantages of using headphones or ear buds include the following: (1) they tend to be relatively bulky and inconvenient; (2) in their most common form, they require a cable to run from the head to the sound source, thereby interfering with the listener's mobility; (3) they are worn only when needed and removed and stored while not in use; (4) while in use, they partially occlude the ear, reducing the ability to perceive other environmental sound or voice signals.
It is known in the art to connect the retro-auricular space (i.e., the space behind the pinna of the ear) to the ear canal via a hollow titanium tube that is permanently placed into soft tissue. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,094,493, which patent is incorporated herein by reference. In one embodiment presented in the '493 patent, an amplification hearing aid is connected to the proximal (retro-auricular) end of the tube, whereby the hearing aid is located behind the pinna of the ear and a transducer sends the amplified sound signal through the tube into the ear canal. This concept, which has been commercialized by Auric® Hearing Systems, Inc. of Charlotte, N.C. as the RetroX technology, allows a certain degree of amplification without feedback and without the need for occlusion of the ear canal. In another embodiment of the '493 patent, the microphone, transducer, electrical and electronic components are installed in the tube. The '493 patent does not disclose a personal sound link.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,801, the use of a silicone tube is disclosed to direct the output of a conventional hearing aid, held in place behind the ear using an ear-hook or via a piercing through the cartilage of the pinna, into the ear canal. One embodiment disclosed in the '801 patent contemplates placing the distal end of the tube in the middle ear to achieve better gain. However, such embodiment, like all middle-ear devices, involves a significant surgical procedure, and the risk of infection is much greater than a simple piercing of the soft tissue behind the ear. Further, the microphone associated with the hearing aid disclosed in the '801 patent is held at the front of the pinna, either as part of the piercing or connected to the hearing aid through an earringtype coupler. Furthermore, the '801 patent does not provide for a personal sound link.
What is therefore needed is an unobtrusive means for personal communications and/or private audio reception. Such a personal sound link should provide a safe and comfortable means of communication and/or audio reception. The personal sound link is preferably self-powered, and preferably provides wireless linking, and an optional cable connector.